Back Issues: "Batman: Nine Lives" (2002)

Crime noir versions of superhero stories are hardly anything new nowadays. While the mix sounds perfect on paper, I feel the execution rarely manages to deliver anything that's really special. Often the authors don't really know how to succesfully blur the lines between the two fiction genres and create something that really works flawlessly. "Batman: Nine Lives", a DC Comics Elseworlds story by Dean Motter (script) and Michael Lark (art), published in 2002, is one of the few instances where the switch from capes and tights to fedoras and trench coats was a complete success.

Maybe it's Batman's roots in pulp crime fiction that make his universe a perfect fit for a noir re-imagining, but here's the thing: "Nine Lives" isn't really a story about Batman. It's a story about Dick Grayson, a detective in Gotham in the post-war 1940s. While Batman obviously plays a role in the story, it's Grayson who's our protagonist and narrator.

Somebody murdered Selina Kyle, an ex-socialite and a lady particularly popular with a whole lot of influential men in Gotham (that's her on the right, on the cover above). Selina was a crafty lady, who liked to know all the secrets of the men she was meeting with, and use that knowledge to get ahead in life. When she was found dead in the Gotham sewers, there was suddenly 9 suspects - 9 men who were now all really interested in finding the key to the deposit box Ms. Kyle stored her files in. Those men are Grayson himself (he was once Selina's "bodyguard"), the rich playboy Bruce Wayne, racketeer Oswald Cobblepot, embezzler Edward Nygma, high stakes poker player Jack "The Joker"... a few more gentlemen you'll be more pleased to meet by yourself, should you decide to read the comic.

All of them had their motives and means to kill Seline Kyle.

This DIck Grayson is less of the Boy Wonder we know, and more of a... Private Dick Grayson, we guess. (we apologize for this joke)

None of these versions of Batman's friends and enemies have any powers or gimmicks here, and for the most part they're all regular men (though some of them are certainly quite extraordinary). You won't find the Penguin shooting an umbrella here, or Mr. Freeze actually freezing anybody - they're all believable characters here and the authors never go out of their way to include as many references (visual or otherwise) to the regular DCU as possible. You may think this would make things really mundane, but the subtlety in which these characters are handled really speaks for itself and is refreshing when compared to all the other Elseworlds (an "Elseworld" is an alternative universe tale in DC Comics) that try too hard to mirror every possible element of the DC Universe we know.

The fact that "Nine Lives" doesn't go insane with the need to reference everything from the Batman mythos and obnoxiously yell at us "SEE? THIS IS THE SAME CHARACTER YOU KNOW, AND YET IT IS SO DIFFEREEEEENT!" all the time, works to it's advantage and gives the quite interesting plot all the space it needs.

The one thing that remains pretty much completely the same is Batman. He looks like he usually does, with the cowl and the costume etc (albeit in a little more "1940s" version of his costume), he drives a pimped-out car, he has an Alfred and he his motivation for what he does is the same as usual. There is however one thing that makes the Batman (and Bruce Wayne) in "Nine Lives" a fresh take on the character - it's the way we see him, via Dick Grayson's eyes.

We've never seen this sort of relationship between Dick/Robin/Nightwing and Batman. Grayson is a wiseguy here, cracking jokes while Batman is... Batman, but that's the only thing that's similar to what we know. Grayson here is like a Philip Marlowe. His take on Wayne is cynical, he sees his outer shell, he knows that Wayne has some ties with "the Batman", and he doesn't really like or trust either of these men. Later on in the story, he learns more about Wayne and his attitude changes, but don't expect the two to become partners or anything like that. It's Grayson's story, but the way he shows us Batman, the way he describes him and interacts with him makes for some really cool moments.

I don't think anybody needs convincing that Michael Lark is one hell of an artist (at least I hope not), but the man needs a medal for the art in this oneshot. From the way the city looks, the 1940s style present in the clothes, cars etc., to the great character redesigns, this is a great looking comic.

Motter's writing is great. He's got the noir melancholy down pat, and Grayson as a classic private investigator is a very compelling character. He's tough, funny and still has enough of "our" Grayson to be familiar. Everything fits well together and you know this is a great Elseworlds tale by the fact that it would be just as great a read if you didn't know the "regular" versions of any of these characters. The 1940s gangsters, cops and socialites they're shown as here could be all they ever were, and it would be perfectly fine.

Boss Hagen (click to enlarge)

"Nine Lives" is a good crime noir tale, a good comic, and an especially entertaining take on the Batman mythos. It's one of my favorite Elseworld stories and it's highly recommended. We sometimes do these BACK ISSUES here as a funny thing, showing comics that are unintentionally entertaining, but this is one of the times when it's a real gem, well worthy of your time and money. Make sure you check it out.